Born George Bassett just after the First World War, George Smith (as he became known after being adopted by the Smiths who brought him up in Guernsey) was one of those players who made his debut just before the Second World War, but who then ‘lost’ most of the next seven years to a combination of military service and ‘unofficial’ football.  His 30-odd games for Southampton, in 1939-40 and 1945-46 (that transitional season before League football proper resumed), were divided by service as a rear-gunner and latterly as an air-gunner instructor.

Then, in 1946-47, one or the other wing-half berths, (increasingly on the right) was his to assume – and keep for another 92 games, until he made way for Len Wilkins in October 1948. That stint included the Saints’ memorable Cup run of 1948, but the highlight for the ‘Guernsey Terrier’ was the tour of Brazil later that same year – even though he suffered so badly from the humidity in the opening game that he lined up the wrong way for the second-half. Transferred to Crystal Palace in 1950, he played but half-a-dozen games before retiring.

  In 1958, he and his family became the first arrivals in Albury, NSW, under the Bring Out A Briton immigration scheme.  Although he helped to form the Albury, Wodonga and Lavington Soccer Association, he also adopted Australian Rules, becoming trainer and masseur at the Albury Football Club. He had become a fully qualified physiotherapist while in his final years at Southampton even operating a private practice out of his home.

He died in the Holbrook District Hospital, after falling and breaking a hip.